A wider view of U.S. role in world

Never before in our nation’s history has a president’s approach to foreign affairs been so consequential. We are a nation at war overseas and in the grips of an economic crisis at home. Many are wondering whether we are witnessing the end of the American century, and our ability to maintain leadership on the global stage.

On Monday in New Hampshire, I will lay out my foreign policy vision and priorities, which will differ from the conventional thinking you will hear from some of my fellow Republican candidates — including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who will address the subject Friday.

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To protect American interests, we need to transform our foreign policy for the modern world. Simply advocating for more ships, more troops and more weapons isn’t a viable foreign policy. We need more agility, more intelligence and more economic engagement with the world.

It’s time to erase the old map. End nation-building, engage our allies and fix our economic core. This is how we will fight the enemy we have — and renew American exceptionalism.

While my opponents and I agree on many things, we differ in our approaches to solving today’s greatest challenges. I believe we need to throw out the old playbook and take bold measures.

For example, Romney and I agree on the need to fix our economy in order to project strength around the world.

Yet The Wall Street Journal described Romney’s economic proposal as “timid” and “shrinks from some of our biggest issues.”

My jobs and economic plan – which includes bold changes to our outdated tax and regulatory codes – was immediately endorsed by The Wall Street Journal, and has been described as “the most pro-growth proposal ever offered by a U.S. presidential candidate.”

As much as our economy needs transformation, so, too, does our defense infrastructure and approach to foreign entanglements.

We must transform our military to reflect the asymmetric threats we face. We are still saddled with a top-heavy, post-Cold War infrastructure. It needs to be rethought and reduced. To use corporate terminology, it needs to be right-sized.

We have military installations in 135 countries. How do we pay for them? With borrowed money.

The Cold War is over. We must shift from a foreign policy of containment – the containment of communism, to a policy of expansion — the expansion of economic competitiveness and global engagement through economic partnerships and trade agreements.

In stark contrast, many of my fellow Republican candidates appear to advocate the status quo: more military entanglements and more spending.